Houthi rebels, meanwhile, said they had struck a coalition warship with missiles although there was no confirmation of this.

The offensive, which analysts say could be the biggest battle so far in the Yemeni civil war, has raised fears of mass casualties among the city’s 400,000 population.

However, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said they wanted to avoid a street war with the Houthis “for the safety of civilians”.

He told al-Hadath TV that the aims were to win control of the airport and seaport as well as the main road leading to the capital of Sanaa.

Thursday’s meeting of the UN Security Council was called by Britain amid fears of a humanitarian crisis in Hudaydah.

The pro-government assault began after Houthi rebels ignored a deadline to withdraw.

Civil war has raged in Yemen since late 2014, when the Houthis and allied forces seized north-western parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa, and eventually forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.

Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian Shia Muslim proxy, Saudi Arabia and eight other Sunni Arab states launched a military campaign in March 2015 to restore Mr Hadi’s government.

View the original article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44477500

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